It all began a few months ago when Shane, a dive instructor friend, called and suggested I should talk to Alison, a diver, he dives with. Shane was moving away and he was Alison’s dive buddy who was a dive instructor years ago until the universe dealt her the cards of ending up with severe mobility issues.
Not having had any real experience diving with divers who require extra assistance or need the use of a wheelchair, I found Amanda McCormack who is an instructor trainer for Disabled Divers International (DDI)
I knew a former IDC candidate of mine had done this course with her, so I contacted Amanda and we organised a date for me to fly to Cairns and do the DDI instructor level course. The course was great, informative and I learned so much. Amongst other things we covered spinal injuries, things to think about how best to organize diving with divers who have a disability and how the DDI standards work. What happens if a candidate can’t meet the PADI performance requirements and how a diver can then be certified through the Disabled Divers International system. We ended up in the pool doing various skills like entries and exits as well as experiencing myself how a disabled diver has to deal with situations.
The second day we ended up going out to sea from Cairns thanks to the great crew from Passions of Paradise who made this all possible. Passions of Paradise is a great dive and snorkel company that operates from Cairns year round and is now running almost every day again since Covid.
Coming diving with us was Jason East, who 12 years ago was a cray diver and ended up in a car accident, Jason is a person with Quadriplegia C4. Jason is a superstar and I can truly say that all the diving I have done since I was 14 years old, the two dives we did together, will never ever be forgotten and will rate as one of the most memorable experiences I have had underwater.
As part of the training, I learned different techniques of assisting Jason, getting him ready for the dives, entering the water and exiting of course as well. Having done hundreds of PADI introductory dives I was ready to be, there, control, buoyancy, assisting with propulsion, only to be blown away by Jason’s ability to leave me in the dust, swimming around having better buoyancy and trim than some of the Divemaster candidates who have joined some of my PADI IDC programs.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Jason publicly here for being my dive buddy and allowing me to be part of this experience. Thank you Jason.
Part of the training was also to understand the challenges a diver with no or little leg mobility has. I got to borrow Jason’s webbed dive gloves, ditched my fins, got my legs tied together, did a very “graceful” forward roll into the water and started to realise how much we use our fins, legs and core whilst diving.
The upper body strength required to be able to propel yourself forward, keeping your balance and maintaining buoyancy was a real challenge. My legs wanted to float up which made me roll onto my back. Swimming with just my hands was incredibly tiring after only a few minutes and I probably used 50 bar of air in just 10 minutes….
So what is next? I am really looking forward to diving with Alison when I get back to the Sunshine Coast. I am also going to look at how I can include this training in my future PADI IDC programs I run through Sunreef on the Sunshine Coast.
A huge thank you again to Jason, my new dive buddy, the fabulous crew of Passions of Paradise who made the day run so smooth and were just an incredible bunch of people, Libby Stirling and Sota Yamaguchi for all the photos and of course Amanda McCormack for teaching me to become a DDI Instructor.
If you want to find out more about this program or have any questions about scuba diving as a disabled person then please contact me at kai@diveinstructor.com.au or phone on 0419172910
